Jimmy Armfield’s first foray into Europe
as Manager was a daunting trip to Hungarian League leaders UjpestDozsa, and he marked it with a famous victory. United
had been paired with their old Hungarian rivals, whom they had met twice before
in the old Inter-Cities Fais competition. They had
won the first tie but lost the second, as they were beaten at both home and
away. Armfield knew his men faced a big challenge in Budapest
against a side that had won the Hungarian League title for six consecutive
years and had only dropped two points from ten games in the current campaign.

The new Manager’s inexperience seemed irrelevant as United
took the lead after only seven minutes with a Peter Lorimer
thunderbolt. Terry Cooper, in a familiar advanced position on the left, crossed
towards goal, forcing the Ujpest goalkeeper Adam Rothermel to palm the ball out, Duncan McKenzie collected
the loose ball and played it to Peter Lorimer who
lashed it into the net.

The irrepressible McKenzie, who had been bought by Brian
Clough for £250,000 from NottinghamForest,
was, like his Manager Jimmy Armfield, making his
European debut. He was in the team for Allan Clarke, who was suffering from a
bruised instep, and early on it looked as though McKenzie would be joining
Clarke on the treatment table. The striker was being battered from one side of
the pitch to the other by the Hungarian defence and when he was hacked down
from behind by Josef Horvath in the fifteenth minute, McKenzie snapped. He
retaliated and was ordered off by the West German referee, who had given McKenzie
little protection early on. Tschenscher did little to
endear himself to the Leeds players five minutes later
when Laszlo Fekete went steaming into the Leeds
area and Terry Cooper clearly pulled out of a tackle. Fekete
tumbled despite that and the referee gave a penalty which Laszlo Fazekas converted, despite a valiant by David Harvey to
save the kick.

Fortunately, despite their adversity, United quickly
regained the lead three minutes later when Gordon McQueen headed home. United
had stuck to their attacking game-plan and in the twenty-second minute the big
Scot got his first European goal when he headed in a Johnny Giles free-kick.
The big centre-half also went close with another header while Johnny Giles saw
a thirty-yard shot scrambled off the Ujpest line as
United continued to attack whenever possible.

Despite having Duncan McKenzie sent off, United controlled
the match and were unlucky not to increase their lead. Even down to ten men,
however, United still proved too good for the Hungarians and United were able
to take a lead into the second leg at Elland Road. It was not all
one-way traffic, however, and David Harvey had to produce three excellent saves
to deny Laszlo Fekete, Laszlo Fazekas
and FerencBene but there
was still time for a sting in the tail of a remarkable match. With nine minutes
to go, Joe Jordan was brought down in the area but Peter Lorimer
could only hit a post with his spot kick and seconds later it became a ten-a-side
game as Laszlo Harsanyi brought down Terry Yorath and was ordered off for a second bookable
offence as United took a one goal lead back to Elland
Road for the Second Leg.

Match Action:

Trevor Cherry directs a header just wide of the
UjpestDozsa post

Players:

Peter Lorimer and
Gordon McQueen scored the Leeds goalsDuncan McKenzie was sent off